Maria Kanellis

About Maria Kanellis

Mary Louis "Maria" Kanellis-Bennett is an American professional wrestler, manager, promoter, actress and model. She is currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) and Ring of Honor (ROH), and is also the co-owner and founder of the independent promotion Women's Wrestling Army (WWA). She has previously wrestled for Impact Wrestling and WWE.

Outside of wrestling, she is known for her 2008 Playboy magazine pictorial and 2010 appearances on the Celebrity Apprentice television series. Before her career in wrestling began, Kanellis regularly competed in beauty pageants.

Kanellis' career began as a contestant on the reality show Outback Jack in 2004. In the same year, she placed fifth in the Diva Search, and was later hired by WWE as a backstage interviewer. Kanellis began competing in the ring as a professional wrestler in 2005 and received the Slammy Award for Diva of the Year in 2009. She released her debut album Sevin Sins in 2010 and departed WWE later that year. After departing WWE, she worked for Ring of Honor (ROH) and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) In TNA. She is a former TNA Knockouts Champion. Along with Bennett, she returned to WWE from 2017 to 2020 and held the WWE 24/7 Championship once, and as it was during her pregnancy, that made her the first ever pregnant champion in WWE history.

In a December 2011 interview, Kanellis confirmed she was dating fellow wrestler Mike Bennett, and the couple were engaged in November 2012. On October 10, 2014, Kanellis and Bennett married.

Kanellis is of Greek descent. As of May 2024, she has amassed 928 thousand Instagram followers.